A Drink With Honesty
by bubbleline
Summary: AU: In New York, Rachel begins frequenting a bar near her apartment. This is the story of how Rachel Barbra Berry fell in love with Quinn Bartender Fabray.
1. Chapter 1

The first time Rachel saw her, she could barely place her drink order.

She knows she ordered a Long Island, but one look into those hazel eyes and she had trouble forming words. The blonde bartender hadn't noticed. The bar was busy; Rachel was just another customer she needed to get out of the way so she could get to the next one.

If only Rachel knew the trouble she was getting herself into.

* * *

The second time Rachel saw her, she was a bit more prepared. As she walked into the bar, head held high, she saw a flash of blonde walk past her carrying a tray of drinks. She sat down, and almost refused to order when a tall, muscular blonde man with larger than normal lips asked her what she wanted to drink.

Rachel was equally frustrated when the male bartender asked her if she wanted a refill, as the realization dawned on her that the stunning blonde with the beautiful eyes would not be serving her tonight.

Rachel just grunted and waited for another mojito to down.

* * *

Third time would be a charm, at least that's what Rachel thought. She made sure to sit at the very end of the bar, where she was about 90% sure was the area that the blonde served.

She was right.

Rachel was too ecstatic to bother trying to talk to her. She was brave enough to ask the blonde to make her a drink as she pointed to the Absolut Raspberry vodka, but besides that, she just settled for watching the blonde when she wasn't looking.

When Rachel got the check, she held in her joy as she finally figured out the name of her mystery bartender. On the receipt in electronic print was: "Server: Quinn."

'What a lovely name,' Rachel thought.

* * *

Fourth time, fifth time...a few other times passed, actually. Rachel came pretty much every week and taken to alternating between sitting at the bar in Quinn's area, or sitting away at a table so she could secretly watch Quinn from afar. Months had passed since the first time Rachel decided this Quinn person would have her babies. Obviously, it was a little creepy, but Rachel didn't care at this point..

Rachel was still planning her move, of course. Or trying to gather up the courage to speak more than "A cosmo, please," to Quinn.

So, Rachel finally spoke to Quinn.

Rachel was sitting at a table away from the bar. She was with Kurt, who had accompanied her on every prior trip to the bar before. Kurt complained every time, especially because Rachel insisted it just be him and not him and Blaine who came with her. But, the drinks were strong, it was near their apartment, and the male bartender with the killer abs was cute. He had introduced himself one night to find out the ab-ulous Sam was his bartender and still found him adorable despite Sam's attempt at a Sean Connery accent. And, of course, Kurt was highly amused at Rachel's antics and curious where it would end up.

Two empty glasses sat on the table, when Quinn came by to pick them up. As Quinn lifted up the glasses, Rachel leaned in, the alcohol making her bolder.

"Quinn, how are you?"

Quinn flashed a smile.

"I'm good, how are you?"

"Great!" Rachel was beaming.

The three-second conversation was over as Quinn walked away quickly, off to tend to another patron.

"Oh. My. Barbra. She smiled at me!" Rachel gushed as she leaned towards Kurt.

"I can't believe you called her by her name!" Kurt was astounded that Rachel did it, considering that Rachel had never formally introduced herself to Quinn. It was sort of creepy.

"I don't even care right now. She SMILED at me, Kurt. We're going to get married," Rachel stated surely.

Kurt just nodded and smiled. It was far easier to just let Rachel ride out her craziness than get involved.

* * *

'Oh, god,' Kurt thought as he wished he had gotten involved. Maybe then things would have turned out differently. You know, so he wouldn't have been woken up at 8 in the morning by Rachel storming into his room yelling about the previous night.

The not-so-conversation with Quinn had sent Rachel over the edge, and they had both consumed way more alcohol than they should have. Needless to say, Kurt woke up with a horrible headache that was further exacerbated by a certain Broadway diva.

"Kurt! What happened? You left me!" Rachel yelled as she jumped on Kurt's bed.

Kurt remembered. He had started to feel sick and begged Rachel to go home, but Rachel was insistent on staying. Now, normally, Kurt would never leave Rachel at a bar by herself. But he was drunk, feeling sick, and two blocks from their apartment so he had left. He semi-recalled arguing with Rachel about going home and Rachel refusing to go home. So he had left her.

He was regretting that now.

"I don't know! I wanted to go home, you didn't...we fought I think. So I went home without you." Kurt's pillow was over his head. Seeing any type of light at this point would just make him throw up.

"I think I yelled at her!"

"What?"

"At the end of the night, stupid man bartender wouldn't let me pay for my drinks, so I tried to get Quinn to make him charge me but she made me go home! I was mean!...I think. I definitely yelled!" Rachel was similarly laid on the bed with the pillow over her head. Luckily, they had been through many a drunken night where they had to recount the details they recalled the next morning, so they understood each other perfectly.

"What did you say to her?" Kurt mumbled. A headache was starting to creep up on him, and though he wanted Rachel to get the hell out of his room, he couldn't resist getting every detail out of her. Or at least what she could remember.

"I don't know! I just remember getting mad, leaving, then trying to go back but the door was locked! What if I told her I was in love with her? What if I told her I was completely gay for her? She probably thinks I'm trying to buy her with all the tips we keep leaving!"

"Is that not what you were doing?" Kurt was well-aware that when Rachel got some drinks in her, she tended to leave large tips behind. But even Kurt had to reign in Rachel the past couple of times and keep her from spending all her money on a girl who most likely had no idea she existed.

"Kurt Hummel, I cannot let her think that I am a neanderthal who just drinks until she cannot think anymore!" Rachel was indignant. Rarely did she ever "black out" from drinking, and curse her luck that one of the few times she did, it happened to involve one beautiful bartender named Quinn.

"I'm never drinking again," Rachel sighed. She could never show her face again.

"Oh my god, Rachel. What do you want to do, apologize to her?" Kurt realized later that he never should have spoken, let alone let the brunette into his room.

"That's BRILLIANT, Kurt! I will apologize to her immediately when the bar opens today! Quinn Bartender will NOT think of Rachel Barbra Berry as just another drunk!" Rachel bounded out of Kurt's room.

"Do you think she'll come back?" Blaine asked sleepily. He had actually walked Kurt home after the other boy had asked him to come get him, considering the sheer drunkeness that Kurt was in the previous night. Blaine was curled up on the edge of the bed, his hair a curly mess threatening to turn into an afro.

"No, love, just go back to sleep..." Kurt mumbled as he snuggled into the smaller boy's back. He knew that Rachel's craziness was far from over, but he was determined to sleep at least a little bit in this morning if he had any say in it.

* * *

"I'm very sorry. Obviously, my friend and I had just a little too much too drink. I hope you will not judge us on last night, as I hope you can recall,we have been quite tolerable in previous weeks, quite friendly actually. Kurt often engages in conversation with Sam, and though we, and I mean you, me, Sam, and Kurt, haven't been able to talk extensively or get to know each other in the most appropriate way, that we have a sort of camaraderie, seeing as Kurt and I have been quite lovely, in my opinion, thus far..."

Quinn had stopped listening halfway through, and tried really hard to listen. Sure, the short brunette and gay brunette had confessed their love to her and Sam in a drunken fit the previous night, but that wasn't exactly out of the norm for them. Honestly, as a bartender for the past year, Quinn was used to drunken antics and would have quickly forgiven Rachel, had Rachel stopped talking and let her.

"...and I really feel that considering our regular patronage of this bar, as well as the large tip we leave, I hope that you will consider forgiving us and letting us continue to patron this establishment, again considering the proximity to our apartment and the frequency in which we partake..."

Quinn knew them. She knew they came in almost every week. That the taller brunette boy would usually order a cosmo, but the shorter, louder, brunette with the bangs...she was a mystery. Every week, she ordered a different drink. One week a beer, another week a cosmo, another week a mojito...it was a bit frustrating. This Rachel person, as Quinn figured out from the receipts Rachel left, was quite an enigma. Quinn never really knew what Rachel would want to drink, and that sort of annoyed the shaggy blonde bartender. Quinn prided herself on getting to know her regulars, but for some reason, Rachel and Kurt just seemed to fall outside her radar. Kurt always made a point to talk to Sam, but for the most part, they had never spoken to Quinn, nor really tried to make eye contact.

This was all about to change, though, tonight.

"...and again, I'm really sorry, I hope you won't think of us lightly, and again, so sorry about how I behaved."

Quinn registered in her head that the brunette named Rachel had finished talking. She smiled as she cleaned the area around them.

"It's okay. It happens," Quinn said, the smile still on her face. She was highly amused that Rachel had taken it upon herself to come in first thing the next morning to apologize.

"No, Quinn, I must insist that I make amends-" Rachel began until she was interrupted.

"How did you know my name?" Quinn asked, her left eyebrow raised in curiosity. A blush creeped itself across Rachel's face, until it was obvious she was beet red.

"Um...well, it was on our receipts. I assumed since he was Sam," Rachel pointed at the blonde male bartender, "that you would be Quinn. I'm sorry, it's incredibly rude not to introduce myself. I'm Rachel Barbra Berry," Rachel smiled as she extended her hand out to Quinn.

"It's nice to meet you," Quinn smiled, completely captivated by the pair of brown eyes in front of her. Why hadn't she ever noticed the pair of stunning eyes on a bar regular?

"I'm Quinn Fabray."

"It's lovely to meet you, Quinn Fabray."

Rachel was ecstatic. Mystery blonde, beautiful bartender was speaking to her.

And like that, Rachel withdrew her vow to never drink again. If anything, she would be drinking a lot more now as she attempted to gain the friendship of one Quinn Bartender Fabray...while wooing her, of course.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thank you so much for the reviews! I apologize for the long time between updates. Honestly, I write my best fanfictions when I am drunk and I've cut down on my drinking so apologies for the lack of updates. Hopefully there'll be more!

Also, reviews are REALLY appreciated. I often post sneak peeks on my tumblr, username is melannsim, so check it out! Now on to the story!

* * *

It had been three weeks since "The Incident."

Rachel had dubbed it, "The Incident," as the moment when Kurt and her had lost full control of their bodies and proceeded to make fools of themselves. Kurt had initially labeled it the "Rachel Berry Train Wreck Extravaganza," but Rachel wasn't down for that, obviously. Rachel realized quickly that she didn't remember most of it, or any of it actually.

Unfortunately for her, Quinn did.

Quinn remembered cutting Rachel off at some point, giving her glasses full of Coke and nothing else for the rest of the night.

Quinn knew Rachel was "totally gay" for her, to use Rachel's words and confirmed by Kurt.

But, our poor aspiring Broadway starlet had no idea that she had drunkenly confessed her love for the blonde bartender. Again, to quote Rachel, "You are totally freakin' hot and I would be totally down to go down on that," while Rachel let her eyes go lower and lower on Quinn's body until Quinn had to excuse herself from the bar. Drunk Rachel obviously had no problems revealing the innermost thoughts of Sober Rachel.

Now, normally Quinn would just shrug it off. Rachel was drunk and obviously didn't remember "The Incident." Rachel never brought it up, nor did she ever hint that she had remembered the events of that night.

Three weeks later, though, they were at a predicament.

Rachel and Kurt had continued to frequent the bar, waving and making small talk with Sam and Quinn. Or, rather, now that Rachel had broken the invisible barrier between her and Quinn, she felt comfortable in ranting drunkenly. Blaine had started to accompany them on their trips because, as Blaine put it, "Someone needs to watch you two make fools of yourself." Blaine wasn't jealous of Kurt's fascination with Sam, knowing full well that most of the attraction laid in the wonderful abs that Sam possessed. And Blaine wasn't one to deny a good set of abs.

After Rachel had apologized, Quinn couldn't stop thinking about it...well, her. Quinn had eyes; Rachel was very attractive and seemed like a nice enough person. But Quinn was Quinn, and Quinn decided to play it cool and just see where it went, all while becoming increasingly attracted to the brunette as time went by. The only problem was that the only time they talked was when Rachel was super, super, super drunk.

And that was mainly because Rachel could only gather the courage to talk to Quinn when she was super, super, super drunk.

Rachel was fascinating once she felt comfortable enough to speak her mind to the blonde bartender. Quinn listened as Rachel explained her life story and her background and her unrelentingly desire to be a Broadway star. Rachel talked about Broadway a lot. And singing. And Broadway. It was such a major point of discussion/drunk ranting from Rachel that a thought had passed through Quinn's mind the previous week. Quinn had never heard Rachel sing. So, on this Friday night, Quinn was determined to hear the voice of one Rachel Barbra Berry.

"Karaoke starts at nine," Quinn stated, factly, as she cleaned some glasses. The bar was half-full, not yet too busy with drunken people in every corner.

"Oh," Rachel said simply, sipping her Long Island. She was strangely calm for being mildly drunk, which caused a raised eyebrow on both Quinn and Kurt.

"Oh? Oh, come on, Rach. Like you won't march on that stage and steal the microphone from whoever is butchering whatever Barbra Streisand song..." Kurt mumbled as he shot a knowing look to Blaine. Blaine nodded in response. He knew full well that there was only one ending to tonight, and that involved lots of singing from Rachel.

"Can you sing?" Quinn raised an eyebrow at Rachel. She had not been fully exposed to the true talent that Rachel Berry possessed, despite the numerous proclamations of greatness that came from Rachel Berry's mouth.

"Can I sing? Just you wait, Quinn Bartender," Rachel stated, slightly slurring her words. At some point, Rachel transitioned from sober to super, falling down, telling the truth drunk.

It seemed she was at that point.

Rachel waited until the second-rate wannabee had finished their horrendous rendition of "My Humps." Rachel hadn't put much thought into her song selection as she normally would, but one song popped into her head immediately, so she went with it. Full off of two Long Islands and a shot of Patron, she was ready.

"This song is dedicated to Quinn Bartender and Sam Abulous," Rachel said before the first few notes of her song came through the speakers.

_"Loving you, isn't the right thing to do..."_

'Oh..' was all Quinn thought as the petite brunette who talked too much proved she could sing far better than she ever realized.

And, of course, she fell a little bit more in love with the karaoke queen.

* * *

_The next morning..._

"Kurt," a knock.

Silence.

"Kurt!" Another knock.

Silence.

"KURT!" Three knocks in quick succession. The door swung open after three seconds.

"Oh my god what do you want?" Kurt said. He was still in the clothes he had worn the previous night, his perfectly coifed hair a shaggy mess and his face a picture perfect example of "I drank too much last night."

"What. Happened?" Rachel stated slowly. She too was nursing an incredible hangover, but needed answers. Now.

"You. Sang."

"I. Know."

"Ugh..." Kurt spewed out as he turned around and slowly crawled into bed next to Blaine.

"Sweetie...you sang, and it was wonderful. Let's leave it at that," Blaine pleaded to Rachel. His hair had become a small afro overnight and though he hadn't drank nearly as much as Rachel and Kurt, he was still quite tired, seeing as it was 7am on a Saturday morning.

"Should I really leave it at that?" Rachel asked. She crawled into bed next to Blaine.

"Yes. Just leave it at that. And leave, too," Kurt replied.

"Fine..." Rachel sighed.

Silence managed to encompass them for a few moments, before Blaine decided to ask a simple question that would soon shake their worlds.

"So where are you taking Quinn on your date tonight?"

Another few moments passed, before Rachel bolted straight up with a horrified expression on her face.

"Wait..."

"Oh, god, Blaine...why would you bring that up?" Kurt shoved his head under as many layers as he could.

"I...have a date...with Quinn Bartender?"

Kurt groaned and silently reminded himself to scold Blaine when his headache had subsided.

* * *

_Meanwhile, while the Tuckered Out Trio was having this conversation..._

"So, where are you going to take Rachel tonight?" Sam asked as he sliced oranges in preparation for the night ahead. He assumed he'd be alone that night, seeing as how Quinn had tentatively secured a date with Rachel.

"Hmm...maybe that art gallery in Midtown?"

"You think she likes art?"

"I don't know! Ugh..." Quinn slammed her cleaning rag on the table she had been obsessively cleaning for the past 15 minutes. Her head followed soon after, making a thud sound as it hit the table.

"Look, she likes singing, right?" Sam asked.

"Of course! She was AMAZING last night. But I can't bring her somewhere with singing. I don't want her to think I'm comparing her voice or something..." Quinn was utterly confused at to what to do with Rachel that night.

"Okay, well...you love that whole hipster, art scene. Just bring her to one of your friend's 'gallery openings'...and don't act like you don't have one going on tonight," Sam said jokingly.

"I just...want it to be special..." Quinn trailed off, "I want something just for us..."

Sam stopped what he was doing and walked over to Quinn, putting an arm around her. They had dated once upon a full moon and quickly realized they weren't going to work out (seeing as how Quinn was super gay), but they had formed a close bond over the years of knowing each other and working together.

"Quinn...just be yourself. Okay? Promise me. If it's meant to be, she will love you no matter what you are or what you have been."

Quinn took a second before reluctantly looking at Sam's outstretched pinky in front of him. She knew he was right.

Quinn sighed as she held up her pinky to Sam's.

"I promise. I will not hide any part of me, and let her take me as I am," Quinn spoke, grasping Sam's pinky with hers.

"Isn't that part of a Broadway song? She'd love that..." Sam laughed while walking back towards the bar.

"Probably..." Quinn smiled. Rent was one of her favorite musicals, which no doubt would bring up a multitude of conversation with Rachel.

'Well..it's worth a shot..." Quinn thought, still musing on where her and Rachel Barbra Berry would be going that night.


End file.
